Getting Started

In this section, three eXpressApp Framework (XAF) tutorials are available - a basic tutorial, comprehensive tutorial and the mobile application tutorial. You can also start by watching the Gentle Introduction to XAF webinar video, and then proceed to the tutorials.

Today, many developers are challenged to build applications with both desktop and web front ends. Typically, this task would require building two different applications with a large amount of duplicate code. In addition, designing a user interface for two applications would take twice as long. The SimpleProjectManager demo shows how to use XAF to quickly build a project management application that runs on Windows and the Web with a common code base. XAF allows you to get started quickly, because it ships with a rich set of typical line-of-business functionality packed into built-in modules.

To learn about the majority of XAF features, follow this comprehensive tutorial. It describes how to implement the MainDemo application that ships with XAF (the web version is also available online). In this tutorial, you will learn how to design a complex business model, extend the default functionality, customize the user interface, use extra modules that ship with XAF, and set up the security system. After completing this tutorial, you will be ready to build real-world applications.

In addition to WinForms and ASP.NET application, you may need to develop a mobile application, and now XAF allow you to make it. With XAF Mobile, you can generate iOS, Android and Windows Phone apps and allow users to access XAF application data from their smartphones. These mobile apps will reuse the database, as well as other aspects of the data model, application logic and UI settings of an existing XAF application.

A Gentle Introduction to XAF (Webinar Video)

In this webinar, Seth Juarez discusses the general philosophy behind XAF while he builds an application from scratch.